The unidentified “object” the U.S. shot down over Canada was a “small metallic balloon” carrying a payload, a senior U.S. official confirmed to Fox News on Sunday.
Details regarding the object were scarce throughout the weekend, but U.S. officials now describe it as a “small metallic balloon with a tethered payload,” the official told Fox. President Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ordered the object shot down on Saturday.
Other reports have described the craft’s payload as “cylindrical.” U.S. and allied forces had been tracking the device for more than a day by the time it was shot down.
The U.S. and Canada still say the craft’s origin is unknown, attempts to recover debris from the vehicle are underway.
CHINESE SPY CRAFT PAYLOAD LOCATED OFF WATERS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, MOSTLY INTACT: US OFFICIAL
President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ordered the shootdown of an unknown object in Canadian airspace on Saturday. (Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool, File) (Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool, File)
The White House released a readout of a call between Biden and Trudeau shortly after the Saturday operation.
“Out of an abundance of caution and at the recommendation of their militaries, President Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau authorized it to be taken down,” the readout said. “President Biden authorized US fighter aircraft assigned to NORAD to conduct the operation and a US F-22 shot down the object in Canadian territory in close coordination with Canadian authorities.”
The device was the third aircraft that U.S. Forces have shot down over North America in the past week. Biden first ordered an F-22 fighter to shoot down a Chinese spy craft off the coast of South Carolina. Another craft of unknown origin was shot down over frozen water between Alaska and Canada.
An F-22 fighter jet takes off from Langley Air Force Base to shoot down China’s spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina. (US NORCOM)
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The U.S. and Canada are currently working to recover debris from all three craft. Only the one shot down off of the U.S. East Coast is known to be of Chinese origin, however.
